A years-long fight between a pair of brothers has netted one a $750 fine after he was found guilty of Mischief Causing Damage under $5,000 after a trial Sept. 30.
Glen Damus Miller appeared before Judge Clifton Purvis in Athabasca Provincial Court.
Crown prosecutor Alison Moore called her first witness, James Edmond Miller, the defendant's brother.
Under oath, the brother testified that as he sat in his house at his father's farm in the Athabasca area early in the morning Oct. 7, 2018, he heard a loud crash outside.
"I put my clothes on and went outside to see what was happening," he said. "What I saw was a red 5-tonne International semi-truck outside ramming into a grey Ford F-250 I was using as a gate at the property, where it eventually pushed it to the side of the driveway."
James Miller said he was keeping the truck there for a friend, and that before the incident, the truck was rusty with no back window.
"It had considerably more damage after that," he said. "After it pushed the truck, the International swerved towards me (as I walked towards him yelling at him to stop). The vehicle was also hauling hay bales on a trailer behind it and headed towards an electric fence behind my home. Glen then said he wanted to kill me when he was at the fence. After he left the property, his wife came in driving a pick-up truck and called me a squatter who does not belong there."
Under cross examination from Defence lawyer Richard Forbes, he admitted that he has a full-time job outside of the farm and doesn't help in taking care of the property.
The next witness was James' 16-year-old daughter. She said she was in her parents' bedroom at the time and witnessed what had happened.
"I heard my dad shouting at my uncle to stop what he was doing," she said. "When my aunt came back to the property with my uncle, she threatened to hit me in the face with a pot. My uncle advised her not to do that, and then my grandmother showed up and told them to stop as my uncle tried to get to my dad."
Michael Darwin Bjornson, the owner of the grey truck, was the next to take the stand.
"I did not see it happen, but my friend James told me about what had happened to my 2005 supercab afterward," Bjornson said. "James was supposed to work on it to make it road worthy after I purchased it from Donald McClanahan for $2,500 Sept. 1. I went to the property to take pictures of the truck to see the damage."
Under cross-examination, he admitted he still owes the previous owner $1,500, and has been paying him periodically.
After the crown closed its case, the Defence called Curtis Faragini to the stand. Faragini said he looked at the vehicle a couple of times, most recently in the spring of 2019.
"It was pretty badly mangled, and that in its current condition it would be worth only scrap," he said. "I also looked at the truck when it was at Bjornson's place. I still would have made the same judgement about the truck at the time."
After his testimony, the Defence moved to adjourn the trial so they could call McClanahan to the stand, as he was down in southern Alberta working as a hunting guide.
Purvis denied the motion as he pointed out that the trial was originally scheduled to happen in April, and that he was not sure the witness was essential to the case.
Forbes made his closing statement first. He said there was reasonable doubt due to the truck being a write-off anyway and alleged that Glen Miller was not responsible for any further damage.
The Crown said their statement next. Moore said James Miller and his daughter were forthright in their answers, and that the Defence witness' testimony was of no consequence to the charge. After the verdict, the Crown recommended a 12-month probationary sentence, recounting a driving over the legal limit conviction from 2000 and a failure to comply charge in 2010 on his record.
Purvis declined to hand down a probation sentence. He said that "no amount of probation is going to solve this long-running family feud." In levelling the $750 fine, he gave the defendant until Jan. 27, 2020 to pay or he would spend a week in jail.
$750 for failing to appear
A 46-year-old man from Athabasca County has been fined $750 after he pleaded guilty for earlier failing to appear in court.
Joey James Hunter was due to appear on charges of dangerous and disqualified driving at an earlier scheduled date but was absent when called.
Forbes told the court Hunter is a single dad with a two-year-old son and helps his father out on his farm.
"At this time, Hunter has no fixed income," Forbes said.
Purvis gave the defendant until Feb. 24, 2020 to pay the fine or he would spend a week in jail.
Moore said that he has convictions on his record from 2012 and 2013, and that charges of impaired, dangerous and disqualified driving were from 2015.
"As these charges are dated, there is no likelihood of conviction," she said. The Crown's application to drop the charges was granted by the court.
